Cover 2 will not work with this Defense

[joethoma]

Cover 2 is predicated on the front four getting pressure on the QB and the back 7 making plays. Fox used it a lot in his early years here when we had one of the best D-Line's in the game. Think back to some of the guys we had in the secondary (Ricky Manning Jr. as a rookie) who made a ton of plays b/c the front four were always in the backfield. The dominance of the front four made it work even with less experienced players in the back 7.

With Meeks becoming our DC, I have heard a lot about simplifying the defense and going back to more of a Cover 2 system. The D-Line gets pressure and the back 7 uses their ability to read/react and speed to make plays.

Presently though, our front 4 can not and will not get the necessary pressure for it to work on most downs. I think on obvious passing downs when they move Brayton and/or Johnson inside will can get pressure, but on normal downs our weakness at DT will prevent this from being successful.

I am not a sky is falling fan, and I know it is still early on and a lot of things can be corrected. But the more I hear about how Meeks wants to make the defense more Cover 2/ read and react, the more it worries me...

This defense is going to have to blitz and disguise coverages to be successful in my opinion. Even if we pick up one or more DT's before the season, we will not have a Pro-Bowl caliber DT on the roster. Even if one became magically available, we do not have the cap space to sign them.

That is not being negative, it is being realistic. Meeks can do things to compensate for smaller and less experienced DT's by run blitzing among other things, but we can't expect to run a defense that is predicated on getting pressure with the front four and expect to be successful...

Everyone saw last night. I know it was preseason, but had that been a real game, the Giants would have had 300+ yards rushing again.

I am counting on Fox and Meeks to come up with a defense that try to mask our weakness as best as possible. This is the reason the Patriots seem to keep going despite injuries- Bellichick is a master of hiding his team's weakness and exploiting the other team's.

Fox has been pretty good at covering our weaknesses in his own rite sometimes, sometimes not. I am optimistic him and Meeks are working with the defense to overcome what is the only true weakness on this team. I think our offense will get it together like last year and our pass defense will be above average.

I know they are not going to show everything in preseason (I am hoping and counting on it). I just hope they do not try to force a system on players when we don't have the personnel for it.

[Udogg]

Rofl......

[Kurb]

:willy_nilly::willy_nilly::willy_nilly:

[rayzor]

:willy_nilly::willy_nilly::willy_nilly:

x2

[Udogg]

I'm scared to go outside today. You know with the sky falling and all that.

[LiQuiD]

...maybe next year

/chicken little

[Seamonk]

You decided this while watching the most vanilla defensive calls? You know.. the same calls we have every preseason? Good Job, Sir, Your interview with ESPN will begin shortly.

[carolinarolls]

wow

there is no way in hell you can read anything definitive enough for a "can not, will not" statement after that practice last night.

c'mon OP...relax

In fact the only definitive can not, will not statement that can be made in this thread is that a poster CAN NOT say he is not a "sky is falling guy" and then describe in detail just exactly how that sky IS in fact falling... and he WILL NOT be able to convince even the dumbest posters here that he can.

[Kurb]

It's hit a turning point here at the Huddle.

Crolls is trying to pick people spirits UP for a change

[KillerKat]

wow

there is no way in hell you can read anything definitive enough for a "can not, will not" statement after that practice last night.

c'mon OP...relax

In fact the only definitive can not, will not statement that can be made in this thread is that a poster CAN NOT say he is not a "sky is falling guy" and then describe in detail just exactly how that sky IS in fact falling... and he WILL NOT be able to convince even the dumbest posters here that he can.

1 more and your post count is 1,234...

[Brandon]

I'm sorry but I love these sort of assessments based on the first preseason game, especially one in which we ran Cover-2 about 5 times. We aren't going to be using a lot of our base defense until the regular season start.

[DOUBLETROUBLE28]

everyone just: chillpill:

[DOUBLETROUBLE28]

:grouphug:

[Brandon]

I'm sorry but I love these sort of assessments based on the first preseason game, especially one in which we ran Cover-2 about 5 times. We aren't going to be using a lot of our base defense until the regular season start.